Saturday, 30 January 2016

Vatican Diplomat at IEC: Love of Eucharist in social justice

Vatican Diplomat at IEC: Love of Eucharist in social justice

(Vatican Radio) The 51st
International Eucharistic Congress is taking place in Cebu, Philippines
drawing thousands of delegates from around the globe to reflect on the
central role of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.Among those attending the week-long event is the Vatican’s top diplomat at the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Bernardito Auza.
Archbishop Auza, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer at the UN in New
York, is Filipino himself so his visit to Cebu is a return home.

He tells our correspondent in Cebu, Sean Patrick Lovett, that the
centrality of the Eucharist in the Catholic faith is directly related to
issues of international political concern such as hunger, poverty and
human rights.

Listen to Sean Patrick Lovett's interview with Archbishop Auza:Archbishop Auza says he has been pleasantly surprised to hear so many
of the week’s discussions centre on hunger and cultural and
interreligious dialogue to name a few of the social justice themes on
the agenda. “The question of justice, the question of the environment,
all of these things are the biggest themes which are also discussed at
the United Nations,” he adds.

The Holy See and the Catholic Church, he observes, have much to
contribute to the International community and to the United Nations by
way of offering a unique religious perspective, and new points of view
to dialogue on issues of global concern.He stresses that all these universal concerns are coming “into our reflection on the Eucharist” in Cebu.

Hunger, interfaith dialogue, social justice “from the perspective of the Eucharist”

Viewing hunger and cultural and interfaith dialogue “from the
perspective of the Eucharist,” he notes, “could be very, very
interesting and surprising at the same time but indeed for us, [the
Eucharist] is …the source, also the inspiration of our participation
in the international community. And it is from that particular
perspective - our religious perspective - that the international
community is also very interested in our participation, in our point of
view. That’s why the Holy Father practically opened the [UN] Summit
this year on the 2030 Development Agenda where the number one goal is to
eradicate hunger and eliminate extreme poverty.”

Bringing love for the Eucharist into dialogue with other faiths

The Vatican Nuncio recounts how the Eucharist “is always available to
people” in the Philippines where almost every church, he says, offers
24/7 Eucharistic adoration or other alternatives for veneration if a
chapel should be closed. “So bringing this great love of the Eucharist
also to the social justice concern to eradicate hunger, eradicate
extreme poverty - to bring this love for the Eucharist into the question
of dialogue with culture, dialogue with other religions, is something
that really expands our vision and also expands our love and our own
idea of the Eucharist. So we see the Eucharist as the source also of
all these dialogues: that we have to go out into the world and try to be
useful, try to be friendly, try to live with others in a harmonious
manner.”